Foreigner: Foreigner Sequence 1, Book 1

The first book in C.J.Cherryh's eponymous series, Foreigner begins an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft who crash-land on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient alien race. From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey, following a civilization from the age of steam through early space flight to confrontations with other alien species in distant sectors of space. It is the masterwork of a truly remarkable author.

Downbelow Station

Pell's Station, orbiting the alien world simply called Downbelow, had always managed to remain neutral in the ever escalating conflict between The Company, whose fleets from Earth had colonized space, and its increasingly independent and rebellious colony worlds. But Pell's location - - on the outer edge of Earth's defensive perimeter - makes her the focal point in the titanic battle of colony worlds fighting for independence.

Cuckoo's Egg

They named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders. Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important - but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his caste, and perhaps against the peace of the world. But when Thorn finally learned what his true role in life was to be, that the future of two worlds might hinge on him, then he had to stand alone to justify his very existence

On the Imperium's Secret Service: Imperium Cicernus, Book 1

The Imperium; a million worlds, trillions upon trillions of humans and aliens, an empire that dominates half the galaxy... an empire that is falling into chaos, revolution and civil war. Only a handful of people are struggling to keep the Imperium together, knowing that the brutality of its rule is infinitively preferable to the chaos of its fall. This is their story. Mariko and her sister were independent shippers and ace pilots, until they ran afoul of the law on a minor planet and ended up jailed and enslaved.

A Beautiful Friendship: Star Kingdom, Book 1

Stephanie Harrington had always expected to be a forest ranger on her homeworld of Meyerdahl until her parents relocated to the frontier planet of Sphinx in the far distant Star Kingdom of Manticore. It should have been the perfect new home - a virgin wilderness full of new species of every sort, just waiting to be discovered. But Sphinx is a far more dangerous place than ultra-civilized Meyerdahl, and Stephanie's explorations come to a sudden halt when her parents lay down the law: no trips into the bush without adult supervision!

Cyteen

The saga of two young friends trapped in an endless nightmare of suspicion and surveillance, of cyber-programmed servants and a ruling class with century-long lives – and the enigmatic woman who dominates them all.

Serpent's Reach

The constellation of Hydri, also called the Serpent, became an undesirable destination during the era of humanity's most prolific interstellar colonization. For Hydri was under strict quarantine because it harbored an intelligent and dangerous alien race, the insectoid majat. Yet human colonies predating the quarantine did exist in this sector of space, which they called Serpent's Reach. Cut off from others of their own kind, they had their own inbred culture and special relationships with the alien majat.

Gate of Ivrel: Morgaine, Book 1

Scattered about the galaxy were the time-space Gates of a vanished but not forgotten alien race. In their time, long before the rise of the native civilizations, they had terrorized a hundred worlds—not from villainy but from folly, from tampering with the strands that held a universe together.

Now the task was to uproot these Gates, destroy their potency for mischief, take horror out of the hands of the few who hungered for power by misuse of the Gates.

Agent of Change: Liaden Universe Agent of Change, Book 1

Fleeing the scene of his latest mission, Val Con yos'Phelium finds himself saving the life of ex-mercenary Miri Robertson, a young Tarren on the run from interplanetary assassins. Thrown together by circumstances, Val Con and Miri struggle to elude their enemies and stay alive without slaying each other - or surrendering to the unexpected passion that flares between them.

At the Sign of Triumph: Safehold, Book 9

The Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than two percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels.

Falling Free

Leo Graf was just your average highly efficient engineer: mind your own business, fix what's wrong, and move on to the next job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where a group of humanoids had been secretly, commercially bioengineered for working in free fall. Could he just stand there and allow the exploitation of hundreds of helpless children merely to enhance the bottom line of a heartless mega-corporation?

Cast in Flight: Chronicles of Elantra, Book 12

Private Kaylin Neya already has Dragons and Barrani as roommates. Adding one injured, flightless Aerian to her household should be trivial. Sure, the Aerian is Sergeant Moran dar Carafel, but Kaylin's own sergeant is a Leontine, the definition of growly and fanged. She can handle one Aerian. But when a walk to the Halls of Law becomes a street-shattering magical assassination attempt on the sergeant, Kaylin discovers that it's not the guest who's going to be the problem.

Silence: Queen of the Dead, Book 1

It began in the graveyard.... Ever since her boyfriend Nathan had died in a tragic accident, Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was. For Emma, life had stopped with Nathan’s death. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there - Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags.

The Rolling Stones

One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who's met their grandmother Hazel would know they came by it honestly.

The Dragons of Dorcastle: The Pillars of Reality, Book 1

The Mechanics and the Mages have been bitter rivals, agreeing only on the need to keep the world they rule from changing. But now a Storm approaches, one that could sweep away everything humans have built. Only one person has any chance of uniting enough of Dematr behind her to stop the Storm, but the Great Guilds and many others will stop at nothing to defeat her.

The Terran Privateer: The Duchy of Terra, Book 1

Earth is conquered. Sol is lost. One ship is tasked to free them. One Captain to save them all. When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer. She has inferior technology, crude maps, and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.

In the aftermath of WWII, an alien virus struck the Earth, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Originally published in 1987, the newly expanded saga contains additional original stories by eminent writers.

Terms of Enlistment: Frontlines, Book 1

The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements, where you’re restricted to 2,000 calories of badly flavored soy every day. You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service. With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

Revelation Space

Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.

Alien Arcana: Starship's Mage Series, Book 4

When a scientist is murdered after finding signs of alien magic in an archeological dig, Mage Damien Montgomery, Hand of the Mage-King of Mars, is sent to investigate both the murder and the alien runes. His investigation is interrupted when a mysterious ship attacks the ruins with weapons only available to the Martian Navy. Despite saving the dig site, Montgomery is left with more questions than answers.

Daughter of the Forest: Sevenwaters, Book 1

Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives and they are determined that she know only contentment. But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift - by staying silent.

In Ashes Born: A Seeker's Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, Book 1

An old friend. A new course. A deadly ship with a secret cargo. Ishmael Wang returns to Port Newmar, but ghosts from his past have followed him. His old shipmate, Phillip Carstairs, offers him the opportunity to track down the man who killed his lover. The catch? He must take command of the Chernyakova, a ship that still stinks of death and haunts Ishmael's nightmares. Together Phillip and Ismael begin a journey into unknown reaches of the Deep Dark to bring back the man who killed Greta.

Metal Boxes - At the Edge

Ensign Stone's goals were to make his way in the Empire's navy, make his family proud of him, and make love to his fiancée. No matter which way he turned, someone was conspiring against him. Disgraced and humiliated, he is court-martialed, discharged, and abandoned. Accepting what he thinks is a lowly busy-work position on a beat up old family business space freighter travelling at the edge of human space, he hopes to earn back the trust and respect he lost.

Publisher's Summary

No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt toothed and blunt-fingered, Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -- a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -- and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, until his escape onto the hani ship The Pride of Chanur.

Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of The Pride and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. For the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station.

This is a remarkable book, with vivid, complex characters, well-built worlds, and alien species that are clear and memorable. These species are thoroughly alien, and yet, when we consider them through Pyanfar Chanur's eyes, they make their own kind of sense.

Pyanfar Chanur is a shrewed space merchant captain. She's swashbuckling enough to thrive in the sometimes-deadly bluff and counter-bluff of trade and politics between six very distinct spacefaring species. Still, despite swagger and sharp dealings she's an honest, decent captain with a fine, honest crew of kinswomen. In fact it's that very decency, shown in the companionable laughter of crewwomen unloading cargo at dockside on a space station deep in alien territory, that makes a desperate human fugitive choose Pyanfar's ship to try to stow away on. It's also that same decency that makes Pyanfar refuse to return the human (a member of a never-before-seen seventh intelligent species) to the predatory Kif who had attacked his ship and tortured his crewmates to death.

There are some things a decent Hani captain just can't do. Only, by the end of the book, and again by the end of the series, Pyanfar changes her mind about what some of those things are.

While the human, Tully, proves his worth and earns a place in Pyanfar's small crew, the crisis with other species escalates. The deadly Kif want Tully badly enough to go to war to get him. The devious, physically-fragile, timid but ruthless Stsho want their own safety and profit at any cost to other species, and they will placate the Kif if that seems safest. The primate-like Mahendo'sat certainly want something very badly, but it's hard even for a shrewd Hani captain to detect what exactly they're after. A Mahendo'sat captain called Goldtooth seems to be turning into an ally against the Kif (and Pyanfar and her crew desperately need allies), but Goldtooth represents a Mahendo'sat Personage with unknown motives. Can even captains of sincere good will twist their orders far enough to stand by their friends when the best interests of their species come into conflict?

And then there are the methane-breathers, who make no sense to anybody who breathes oxygen, and who are wild cards that can change the whole situation.

Every time I read or listen to this book (and I've listened to it several times already, after having read it many times in hard copy), I'm struck by the book's sheer craftsmanship. It's exciting, and dramatic, but it doesn't slip across the line into melodrama. It's fascinating, and it deals with profound, complex issues, but it isn't pompous, pedantic, or analytical. It's tense and suspenseful, but it's also amusing, often in a wryly self-recognizing "Oh, isn't THAT the truth" kind of way. The story is character driven, but with a rip-snorting plot that could easily steal the show if the characters were weaker and less engaging.

By the way, this book is a stand-alone story, complete in itself. It's not a cliff-hanger. The next three books (Chanur's Venture, The Kif Strike Back, and Chanur's Homecoming) together tell a second story about Pyanfar and her crew.The fifth book in the series, Chanur's Legacy, tells a third story all in one volume.

The five books together are a tour de force, but this first book, Pride of Chanur (punning on "pride," the emotion, and pride as in a pride of lions--the Hani are very lion-like) is one of the all-time great enjoyable works of science fiction.

This series is in many ways Cherryh's most accessible one. She takes on one species after another and makes them real as a dime. And comprehensible by their own lights. Without ever making them into humans with fur or feathers. It's a wonderful space opera, which I normally hate. But here, when the alliens are so alien and yet, somehow people you know, how can you resist?Some whiny bits in the dialog. Listen to it and see what you think. It didn't ruin my enjoyment of the books.But you might feel differently.

A good story--one I've read several times in the paperback. Nice, exciting space opera--various species, shoot 'em ups--lots of fun, setting up future tales with these characters. While this volume ends with a complete tale, I'm aware that the next couple of books in the series end with cliff-hangers.

But there are problems with narration in this one--insufficient distinction between character voices, and frequent misread words: operation for option, relegated for related, etc. (And in cases where the wrong word is so completely out of place, it should have been noticed: "Whether they were relegated or not she could not determine.") Also, misplaced pauses in narration, such as "He walked the corridor narrowly (pause) avoiding..." rather than "He walked the corridor (pause) narrowly avoiding..." I won't actually avoid books with this narrator, but I certainly won't seek them out. Unfortunately for me, this narrator reads the rest of the series; if I want the series, I'll have to put up with the reading. Here's hoping it improves.

I'm delighted to be able to get Cherryh's books in audio format, so I'm willing to put up with this narration. But better narration would have made a more enjoyable listen.

If you could sum up The Pride of Chanur in three words, what would they be?

Characters, Story, and Excitement.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Goldtooth. A Smooth Operator.

Have you listened to any of Dina Pearlman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I haven't, but she was a great reader.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just very happy to have this entire series on as Audio.

Any additional comments?

Dina Pearlman is a great reader. Please Audible Frontiers have her read the C. J. Cherryh Merchanter Books 'Merchanter's Luck', 'Tripoint', 'Rimrunners' and 'Finity'd End' . More wonderful books that deserve to be in audio.

CJ Cherryh is one of the best SF authors, ever. I have read all of her books. I am starting with an older book (hopefully remembering less) and have had the pleasure of experiencing her genius all over again. She is able to look at us from the outside, from a different perspective. Her writing skills are superb and her ability to paint pictures with words is extraordinary. I was waiting for her books to "become" audible and now they have arrived. I would suggest you listen to them in order. For those of you who are long time fans of CJ Cherryh, I need say nothing. For those of you for which she is a new author, you are in for a special treat. The narrator did a very good job.

If you could sum up The Pride of Chanur in three words, what would they be?

Best Series EVER.

What other book might you compare The Pride of Chanur to and why?

Minor Spoliers! Cherryh's Foreigner series has a lot similarities to Chanur - Lone human surrounded by strange aliens he only somewhat understands, although in Chanur you never are from the PoV of Tully and are very much so in Bren in the Foreigner series. Also the Lone human and Alien female romance, although it's not much delved into or explored in Chanur between HIlfy and Tully.

What about Dina Pearlman’s performance did you like?

Well...she was good...various voices and accents for the characters. Overall she was very good except in ONE glaring aspect that annoyed me every time she did it. The character voices are always delivered in the same way. For example, there's one crew member,Chur, who is badly hurt and during her recovery she's often noted as speaking in a whisper or other pained voice...but Pearlman reads it like they were just standing there with nothing wrong. Other than that she did an excellent job, I especially liked her portrayal of Jik and Goldtooth.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The aborted romance between Tully and HIlfy (In later books in the series)

Any additional comments?

Hard not to rave about this series. I've read the hardbacks at least 5 times over the years and I am thrilled Audible is going through the backlog of older series like this and putting them up. Like I said in the review title, it's like seeing old friends after being long absent..the kind of story that makes your heart ache when it's all over because you want so badly for the story to continue.

1*=I didn't like it.....
2*=It was OK......
3*=It was good but I will never read it again..........
4*=Maybe I will read it again in the future..............
5*=I will definitely read it again(maybe more than once)

It was so great to listen to an audio of this series after all these years. I've loved a lot of C.J. Cherryh's books but this is my favorite series. Did not make it past the first or second of the Foreigner books, and essentially stopped reading scifi at that point anyway. I love the less powerful characters in her books and how they solve their survival problems. I hope they also make audiobooks of Hunter of Worlds, Rimrunners, Merchanter's Luck, Wave Without a Shore. All great scifi.

Didn't it make you laugh though about how primitive the computer capabilities were? Who could have imagined...?

I thought the reader did ok. She sounded a bit like Sigourny Weaver to me. And my doctor.

Where does The Pride of Chanur rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have many favorites among the numerous genres that I read (listen to) This book is one of the best of its genre. C. J. Cherryh is one of my favorite sf writers. There are enough clues as to how other races may have developed, their society and rules to keep the reader thinking and imagining how a human would react if he/she was in Tully's position. The narrator has a talent for projecting the voices of the different characters without being laughable in her efforts. I'll definitely listen to the other books in this series.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Captain of the Pride was of course my favorite character. She dominated the story and her viewpoint drives the tale.

Which scene was your favorite?

So many to choose from that I can't select my one favorite scene. The on planet activity toward the end was attention getting as much as the station scenes and the shipboard activities.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

C J Cherryh creates great aliens and this book is no exception. The story is told from the point of view of the Hani, a species where the females are the space-farers, forging a trading compact with 5 other alien species, whilst the males remain on the home world. The crew of the Pride of Chanur make first contact with a new species when one of them seeks refuge aboard their ship. We see the struggle of the characters to understand each other and to interact with other species,especially when the language and actions of some species are so different as to be incomprehensible and the arrival of the stowaway will have an impact on relationships within the compact.

I found the action scenes hard to follow, I'm not sure if that was because I lost concentration or because they were just confusing. All in all, however, it was a good read and I will definitely be reading more of her books.

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